Nottingham (Nottingham, #1)

by Nathan Makaryk

No king. No rules.

“The most pleasurable reading experience I've had since first discovering George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.” ― Bryan Cogman, Co-Executive Producer and Writer, Game of Thrones

Nathan Makaryk's epic and daring debut rewrites the Robin Hood legend, giving voice to those history never mentioned and challenging who's really a hero and a villain.

England, 1191. King Richard is half a world away, fighting for God and his own ambition. Back home, his country languishes, bankrupt and on the verge of anarchy. People with power are running unchecked. People without are growing angry. And in Nottingham, one of the largest shires in England, the sheriff seems intent on doing nothing about it.

As the leaves turn gold in the Sherwood Forest, the lives of six people―Arable, a servant girl with a secret, Robin and William, soldiers running from their pasts, Marion, a noblewoman working for change, Guy of Gisbourne, Nottingham’s beleaguered guard captain, and Elena Gamwell, a brash, ambitious thief―become intertwined.

And a strange story begins to spread . . .

• ISBN10: 1250195608
• ISBN13: 9781250195609
• Publish Date: 1 September 2019 (first published 6 August 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 25 June 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Nottingham through BookishFirst in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Have you ever looked at the tale of Robin Hood and just wished there was more to it? More depth, more history, more everything? That’s what Nathan Makaryk did, and the end result was Nottingham.
Nottingham blends historical facts and the tale of Robin Hood and turns it into something so much bigger. It’s still the tale we know and love – but it’s been changed into something much, much bigger. It’s almost not even recognizable, thanks to the new depth.

Nottingham is the story I’ve always wanted from Robin Hood. It has all of the elements I know and love – but there’s so much more to it. I honestly can’t emphasize that fact enough. Makaryk added all of the missing elements, as far as I’m concerned.
To be clear, this isn’t just a ‘historical version’ of Robin Hood. It adds history elements, of course. But it also adds politics and wits and so many quotable moments as well. So many, in fact, that I can’t help but have a mental fancasting going…who I’d like to see play the roles of these characters Makaryk has fleshed out.
Though I will say that the added historical elements did flesh out this novel in a way I’ve never seen before. It made the reading so much more…rich. To be honest, I usually tend to read my books in as few sittings as possible. But for Nottingham, I took about a month (give or take) to fully read it through. There were just so many little tidbits to soak up and think about. It just felt natural to put the book down every now and then and just think about it.
I think in truth, it was the wit that really sold me on this novel. I loved the extra details, and all of the additional twists and turns. Of course, I did. But what really made this novel something was the characters. That’s always been the case for this tale, hasn’t it? Well, Makaryk made them feel even more real, and even cleverer than before. It was perfection.
As for those twists and turns I mentioned? Some of them were obvious and expected – most because they followed the path we know and expected to see. But then there were the ones that came out of left field. They really blew me away. Not only because they surprised me (that much is obvious) but because of how well they fit the story being told.
All in all, Nottingham was a perfect and brilliant read. I know that some people are going to pick it up and read it exactly like I did – a little bit at a time. And I know others are going to binge right through the whole thing. And I think both types of readers will enjoy this one. I know I did.


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